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My family and I are relocating to the West Knoxville area from Wisconsin in July (yes, about a month) and we have a number of questions and I would like some opinions from local area residents on location etc.
Background
I am probably going rent before we buy (unless I get real lucky) and we want to be renting before school starts and related activities (band, football, etc.) and my biggest issue is being able to select an area/school district we want to permanently live in. I don't want to start my kids in one school and move to another. So I would like opinions on housing, schools etc. to help form an idea.
(1) Our home price range is about $240k-$320k
(2) We have a child in high-school and middle school (Band is important for the high schooler and football for the middle schooler)
(3) School districts we are looking at include: Bearden, Farragut, Hardin Valley, West, Karns & Oak Ridge. Anyone with an opinion, please rank these school districts in order of preference.
(4) Recommendations for furnished apartments with short-term leases
(5) Recommendations on regular apartments (or homes) with short-term leases
(6) Any opinions on good neighborhoods/subdivisions are appreciated
(6) Any suggestions on strategies on getting to know the area and help form an opinion are also appreciated.
My family and I are relocating to the West Knoxville area from Wisconsin in July (yes, about a month) and we have a number of questions and I would like some opinions from local area residents on location etc.
Background
I am probably going rent before we buy (unless I get real lucky) and we want to be renting before school starts and related activities (band, football, etc.) and my biggest issue is being able to select an area/school district we want to permanently live in. I don't want to start my kids in one school and move to another. So I would like opinions on housing, schools etc. to help form an idea.
(1) Our home price range is about $240k-$320k
(2) We have a child in high-school and middle school (Band is important for the high schooler and football for the middle schooler)
(3) School districts we are looking at include: Bearden, Farragut, Hardin Valley, West, Karns & Oak Ridge. Anyone with an opinion, please rank these school districts in order of preference.
(4) Recommendations for furnished apartments with short-term leases
(5) Recommendations on regular apartments (or homes) with short-term leases
(6) Any opinions on good neighborhoods/subdivisions are appreciated
(6) Any suggestions on strategies on getting to know the area and help form an opinion are also appreciated.
thanks in advance for your help!
Can't go wrong with Farragut. Beautiful place with good schools.
I moved to West Knoxville last year and love it. I think the two schools on this side of town would be Farragut or Hardin Valley (which is new) I have heard great things about both. Hardin Valley High School will be brand new so I would assume that may be a little above the curve. I am working with 2 other couple right now who are moving into town. One of them actually let there son pick the high school and they then picked a home near there...which turned out to be oak ridge. My husband has lived here is entire life and works with a lot of families relocating here. He would be more than happy to give you his advise. If you want his email feel free to send me a message. He is also familiar with real estate in the area...
As far as leasing, from what I hear the short term stuff is really hard to find right now. I wish you the best of luck!!!
I transferred into Farragut High School during the second semester of my junior year of high school (beginning of '06), and I had a really wonderful experience there. It was roughly twice the size of my previous high school in New Mexico, so I was understandably intimidated at first, but after I graduated I specifically remember telling my parents that I wished I could've spent all four years of high school at FHS. I was in a class of about 600 kids, so I seemed to meet somebody new every day, but even given the size of the school, I managed to meet a great group of friends. I had great teachers, and I stay in contact with several of them on a regular basis. Sports are a big deal at FHS as well, so your football-playing son will certainly appreciate that aspect of the school. The baseball team recently won state for the (I believe) third time in four years, the soccer team won state in '07 (Bearden and Farragut are the perennial soccer powerhouses in Tennessee, at least over the last decade), the football team had a great year last year, etc. In addition, the football field is undergoing some renovations over the summer, so it should look very nice by the time fall rolls around.
So yeah, that's basically an amalgamation of my thoughts about Farragut. I love the area, I love the school, and I'm very thankful that my parents placed me in such a great situation. I would highly recommend the Farragut school system to anybody.
I'm open for any other questions about FHS that you may have, so feel free to shoot away. Unfortunately, I can't offer opinions about the other schools you listed, but I'm sure others here can. Best of luck to you in your search!
Thanks for everyone's response. It seems Farragut has some good recommendations. I wonder how some of the other school districts are? Or maybe they are all pretty good and it doesn't matter? Within the next 3 weeks I hope to narrow down a school district. Does anyone know if the schools allow you to temporarily rent from a different school district if you are going to be eventually living in that school district? I think I may be limited on a rental location that has a short-term lease, accepts pets and is furnished, but I have more research to do....
Ok, I admit, I'm self-posting to move this up to the top of the list, but I want some "opinions" - controversy is OK (IMHO). So.... what do people think of the Karns school district? It seems you may be able to get more house for your money there, but some feedback I've seen is that school district is not rated as high as some of the other West Knoxville schools (Farragut, Bearden, West). Do you agree?
Thanks!
Regarding your question about being in the school district, I'm fairly certain that, for instance, if you wanted your sons to go to Farragut, you would actually have to be living in the Farragut school district at the time of their enrollment, even if you were renting and planning on buying inside the district later on. That's the experience we had when we moved here, so I'm assuming the procedure is still the same - had to have several pieces of proof that we lived at a certain address, etc.
Ok, I admit, I'm self-posting to move this up to the top of the list, but I want some "opinions" - controversy is OK (IMHO). So.... what do people think of the Karns school district? It seems you may be able to get more house for your money there, but some feedback I've seen is that school district is not rated as high as some of the other West Knoxville schools (Farragut, Bearden, West). Do you agree?
Thanks!
I've been biting my tongue during all this, but since you said controversy is ok I'll go ahead and chime in.
For starters, all of Knox County is the same school district. There is not one shred of difference in curriculum or textbooks between Karns, Farragut, West, Bearden, Carter, Central, and all the rest of Knox County's high schools. The teachers are all paid the same, they receive the same training, and the schools all receive the same funding.
The only differences, then, between the high schools in Knox County are their enrollments and the socio-economic background of their students.
If Farragut High School is rated better, it's undoubtedly because families around Farragut tend to be wealthier and better educated than families around Karns. That means there's probably more of a demand for things like AP courses at Farragut than at Karns. But in no way does it mean that your child will automatically receive a better education at Farragut than at Karns.
I'm probably going to get some hate mail for this, but another thing is that many people who move to Knoxville from up North tend to move to Farragut. As word spreads among employers and recruiters that Farragut is THE place to be, its reputation has merely intensified. Some people are more comfortable knowing that their children aren't around so many Southern accents or "country" people at school (there are no trailer parks in Farragut).
(I used to tutor a couple of families out in Farragut, one from Pennsylvania and one from Indiana, and they both essentially told me that's why they moved to Farragut, so they could be around other Northerners.)
I teach at U.T., and I can assure you that my students who were educated at Farragut aren't necessarily any better prepared for the rigors of college than those who were educated at Karns, Gibbs, Carter, or some of the more rural high schools in Knox County. In fact, I've had quite a few boneheads who came from Farragut.
So please find the home you and your family will love, and rest assured that all of Knox County's high schools are good.
As I recall, Farragut offers the most AP classes of any high school in Knoxville (something like 46), so you're right about that, JMT.
I'm not from "up north" by any means (more like desert southwest), and my family chose Farragut because we looked around Knoxville and decided it's where we wanted to be - not because anybody told us we should be here. We aren't afraid of southern accents, we aren't yuppies, and only after we moved did we discover that this part of the city has a reputation for being one of the nicer areas. Many of my neighbors here are originally from the Knoxville area and Tennessee in general, so you will not be surrounded solely by transplants, although I'm sure there are quite a few newcomers who choose this part of town (myself included).
Now, I'm not trying to be rude or hostile here, JMT (although the thread does call for controversy ), but I do feel like you often try to paint Farragut with a broad brush for folks who are unfamiliar with the area. I realize that you're trying to demonstrate that there are many good high schools and suitable areas in Knoxville, but some of your comments (some people in Farragut don't like southern accents, they want to distance themselves from "country" people, they're wealthy, they want to be around northerners, etc.) seem to be misleading to me. I won't deny that some of these statements hold bits of truth in them, because they do, but I also don't want a prospective buyer to completely avoid Farragut because somebody on the internet told him it was full of rich people who somehow want to disassociate themselves from southern culture. My point is, I've seen you bring these things up in the past, and it seems unfair to me that every time Farragut is brought up in discussion, you list the commonly held stereotypes about the town and its people for whoever poses the question, which tends to leave it in a negative light. I mean, is it really necessary to say that you've had some less than stellar students in class who came from Farragut? I don't recall anybody saying that every FHS student is perfect (trust me, I've had a lot of firsthand experience, and I know they're not), so perhaps those kinds of things are better left unsaid. I moved here and made great friends and have come to love Knoxville, and it's always a little bit disconcerting when I see people who live here talking about Farragut as if it's some distant part of the city that doesn't really mesh with everything else. It is possible, after all, to get the "true" Knoxville experience by living here - I promise.
Now, being that I live in Farragut and graduated from FHS, you'll have to understand my motivation for defending my town and school. If I've misinterpreted anything you said, JMT, feel free to call me on it. I don't harbor any ill will, so know that I still respect your opinion and enjoy reading your posts very much.
As an aside, I'll be a sophomore at UT next year - really looking forward to it.
As I recall, Farragut offers the most AP classes of any high school in Knoxville (something like 46), so you're right about that, JMT.
I'm not from "up north" by any means (more like desert southwest), and my family chose Farragut because we looked around Knoxville and decided it's where we wanted to be - not because anybody told us we should be here. We aren't afraid of southern accents, we aren't yuppies, and only after we moved did we discover that this part of the city has a reputation for being one of the nicer areas. Many of my neighbors here are originally from the Knoxville area and Tennessee in general, so you will not be surrounded solely by transplants, although I'm sure there are quite a few newcomers who choose this part of town (myself included).
Now, I'm not trying to be rude or hostile here, JMT (although the thread does call for controversy ), but I do feel like you often try to paint Farragut with a broad brush for folks who are unfamiliar with the area. I realize that you're trying to demonstrate that there are many good high schools and suitable areas in Knoxville, but some of your comments (some people in Farragut don't like southern accents, they want to distance themselves from "country" people, they're wealthy, they want to be around northerners, etc.) seem to be misleading to me. I won't deny that some of these statements hold bits of truth in them, because they do, but I also don't want a prospective buyer to completely avoid Farragut because somebody on the internet told him it was full of rich people who somehow want to disassociate themselves from southern culture. My point is, I've seen you bring these things up in the past, and it seems unfair to me that every time Farragut is brought up in discussion, you list the commonly held stereotypes about the town and its people for whoever poses the question, which tends to leave it in a negative light. I mean, is it really necessary to say that you've had some less than stellar students in class who came from Farragut? I don't recall anybody saying that every FHS student is perfect (trust me, I've had a lot of firsthand experience, and I know they're not), so perhaps those kinds of things are better left unsaid. I moved here and made great friends and have come to love Knoxville, and it's always a little bit disconcerting when I see people who live here talking about Farragut as if it's some distant part of the city that doesn't really mesh with everything else. It is possible, after all, to get the "true" Knoxville experience by living here - I promise.
Now, being that I live in Farragut and graduated from FHS, you'll have to understand my motivation for defending my town and school. If I've misinterpreted anything you said, JMT, feel free to call me on it. I don't harbor any ill will, so know that I still respect your opinion and enjoy reading your posts very much.
As an aside, I'll be a sophomore at UT next year - really looking forward to it.
For years, Farragut was where Northerners went when they moved to town. Karns, Gibbs, and Carter were for farmers. Everything else was a dangerous inner-city school except maybe Bearden and Central. For years those were the stereotypes. Whether the stereotypes were accurate is irrelevant.
Farragut became a town in 1980 although the area had been called Farragut for years. Farragut High School has existed since 1905 or so, but back then there were two school systems in Knox County: Knox County Schools and Knoxville City Schools. The first stretch of interstate built in Knoxville went west from downtown to Farragut meaning that people with money were able to live in the area's first suburbs and still commute to downtown while their kids didn't have to attend city schools.
When the city of Knoxville was making moves to annex the wealthy Farragut/Concord area in the 1970s, the people in the area, terrified that their kids would then be shipped to "inner-city" schools, created their own town so that they couldn't be annexed into Knoxville and be part of the city school system. Well, Knoxville got the last laugh when the two school systems were later consolidated which meant Farragut was now in the same system as--horrors--Fulton, Austin-East, and West. (Of course, that led to the rise in the number of private schools in West Knox, but that's a topic for another discussion.)
But Farragut's stereotype had already been established, and it stuck, fair or unfair. If you're from somewhere else and are transferred to Knoxville, and you want to live around other people who are from somewhere else, move to Farragut.
For the record, I have never said that everyone in Farragut is from the North, nor have I ever said that everyone at Farragut is a snob. Nor have I ever said that the only snobs in Knox County are in Farragut. I sincerely apologize if I came across that way. Just know that I have met a LOT of people who have moved here from up North (and out West) and almost all of them were told that they MUST move to Farragut if they wanted their kids to have any kind of decent education. After all, people don't move to Farragut for bargain housing or for the convenience to downtown.
BTW, my high school didn't offer a single AP class. I'd never heard of AP classes until I went to college. But now I'm a college professor, and my brother is an aeronautical engineer. Clearly the lack of AP classes didn't hurt us.
You seem like a bright person, and I'm glad you had such a good high school experience. With your positive disposition I bet you would've had an equally good high school experience at Karns or Carter or even Fulton or West. And that's all I'm saying: Farragut is NOT the only good area in Knox County for schools, and I wish people would quit pretending it is.
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), but I do feel like you often try to paint Farragut with a broad brush for folks who are unfamiliar with the area. I realize that you're trying to demonstrate that there are many good high schools and suitable areas in Knoxville, but some of your comments (some people in Farragut don't like southern accents, they want to distance themselves from "country" people, they're wealthy, they want to be around northerners, etc.) seem to be misleading to me. I won't deny that some of these statements hold bits of truth in them, because they do, but I also don't want a prospective buyer to completely avoid Farragut because somebody on the internet told him it was full of rich people who somehow want to disassociate themselves from southern culture. My point is, I've seen you bring these things up in the past, and it seems unfair to me that every time Farragut is brought up in discussion, you list the commonly held stereotypes about the town and its people for whoever poses the question, which tends to leave it in a negative light. I mean, is it really necessary to say that you've had some less than stellar students in class who came from Farragut? I don't recall anybody saying that every FHS student is perfect (trust me, I've had a lot of firsthand experience, and I know they're not), so perhaps those kinds of things are better left unsaid. I moved here and made great friends and have come to love Knoxville, and it's always a little bit disconcerting when I see people who live here talking about Farragut as if it's some distant part of the city that doesn't really mesh with everything else. It is possible, after all, to get the "true" Knoxville experience by living here - I promise.
